Former Venture Capitalist Visits U.S. Cities to Change the Education System

Former venture capitalist Ted Dintersmith executive-produced a documentary titled “Most Likely To Succeed,” which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The film argues that modern American schooling is becoming obsolete, that the coursework and information being presented in class is hindering the natural creativity of students.

Since the film’s premiere, Dintersmith has been hitting all 50 U.S. states to screen the film and act as an advocate for its ideas. He’s been engaging with students, teachers and education leaders, encouraging them to band together and start recreating public education in their communities.

When asked what sparked his interest in investing so much of his time and energy into education, Dintersmith responded: “[…] I saw the experiences my kids were having and I said, ‘My gosh, it’s almost as if school was designed to crush innovation and creativity.’ When I started researching, I thought, wait a minute, there’s no ‘almost’ in that statement. Our school system was carefully and thoughtfully designed 125 years ago and had the explicit goal of eliminating creativity in kids going through school.”

His film and his talks have had been hitting home with audience members across the nation. The documentary is only available for viewing through Dintersmoth’s organized screenings, for the exact purpose of bringing people together. “We bring people together to see the film and then people are sort of fired up and say, ‘we are changing things, we are going to make a difference.’”